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Sunday, November 11, 2012

Crime Fiction Alphabet: Letter Z

This week we come to the end of a second year of The Alphabet in Crime Fiction, a community meme which has been sponsored by Mysteries in Paradise.
Thank you, Kerrie, for hosting us again! It's been fun as always! Each week she expected participants to produce a post featuring a
mystery/crime novel or novelist related to that week's letter. And we've finally come to the last letter of the alphabet--the Letter Z.

Earlier this year I took a little ride in a time machine and read M. J. Zellnik's Murder at the Portland Variety. That's right, Z is for Zellnik. From the author's website: M. J. Zellnik is the joint pen name of sister-brother writing team Miriam and Joe Zellnik.
Miriam, based in Portland, OR, is an accomplished freelance writer who's been published in Marie Claire, Bust,
and other local and national publications, as well as authoring
numerous novelty titles for Running Press Publishing, Quirk Books, and
others. Joe lives in New York City where he is a theatrical composer and
graphic designer. His musicals have been performed at New York's
Ensemble Studio Theater, Dodger Stages, Playwright's Horizons, and
London's Bridewell Theater, among others, as well as touring the
country. This series marks their first collaborative effort (well, since
early childhood!) I have read the first book in the Libby Seale series (review below) and looked forward to more. Unfortunately, when I ventured to the website to get background info, I discovered that the publisher has opted to pass on publication for the third in the series. I still plan to pick up the second at some point.

Zellnick took me back to the 1890s in
Portland, Oregon. The Portland Variety is a theater house where vaudeville acts made up
of beautiful dancing girls, magicians, and recycled opera singers
entertain Portland audiences. Libby Seale is a seamstress who works
backstage to keep the vaudeville players properly dressed. Libby has
come to Portland from New York City--escaping a past that she wants to
forget and that she hopes to keep secret. She hasn't been at the
theater long before the magician's assistant, Vera Carabella, is found
murdered in the tunnels that run underneath the city.

Libby is disappointed when the police chalk Vera's death up to the white
slave trade and refuse to waste time investigating. She feels she owes
it to her friend to try an find out what really happened. Libby makes
another friend of Peter Eberle, a young reporter with the local
newspaper. Between the two of them, the investigation will reach from
the brothels and dockside bars to the house of Portland's mayoral
candidate. The clues they find will lead them to one of the key players
in the white slave industry, a chase through the underground tunnels,
and a surprise confession at a society wedding.

This is a very promising beginning to a new historical mystery series.
The characters are solid and have plenty of depth. The period detail is
just enough to support the story without overwhelming the reader with
minutia. The mystery is fairly well-clued and is generally
well-plotted, although it is not an extraordinary page-turner. I
enjoyed the development of the partnerships and relationship between
Libby and Peter and look forward to seeing how things progress in future
books. Libby is very clever and a bit forward-thinking for the time
period--hopefully Peter will continue to put up with her unorthodox (for
the time period) ways. Three stars for a good, solid mystery.

Quotes:

With Libby, he never had to search for words, and she seemed to understand what he was going to say before he said it. (p. 70)

She was a good friend of mine...perhaps not a close friend, but a good
one....I hadn't known her long, but sometimes acquaintance of
short-standing can be more intense for its brevity, rather than less.
[Libby Seale] (p. 151)

One can't right
all the wrongs of the world, child. There will always be crime, and
there will always be innocent victims. [Hatty Matthews] (p. 185)

4 comments:

Bev - Thanks! This does sound like a good, solid mystery and I have to admit, the historical aspect of it appeals to me. And how refreshing that the authors understand the balance between setting the context for the reader and inundating the reader. Time for me to try this team's work, methinks.